USAF Expects LRS-B Award Within ‘Next Couple of Months'

WASHINGTON — The US Air Force is still working through the details of a contract award for the next-generation bomber, and expects an announcement on the final downselect in the next few months. “My hope is within the next couple of months, but we still have details that we still haven’t worked through,” Lt. Gen. Arnie Bunch, the Air Force’s deputy assistant secretary of acquisition, said on Tuesday in response to questions on the timing of the contract announcement from House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee Chairman Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va. Bunch’s remarks come as a surprise to some in the aerospace community, who had expected a contract award for the Long Range Strike Bomber first this summer, then early fall, and most recently in mid-October. The Pentagon is still deciding between proposals from Northrop Grumman, builder of the B-2 stealth bom...